Ravens and Roses
by Serpentira
Summary: Where was he during the last battle? How did he end up there? Blaise/OC One-shot Slash Because sometimes love really does conquer all.


**Maybe it was our world, maybe it was another, but sometimes love really does triumph. Blaise/OC DH compliant One-shot Slash **

* * *

Blaise was the silent Slytherin, the one no one really noticed. Even among his own housemates he was an enigma, one they never really felt inclined to figure out. If he never outright opposed them they were content to leave him alone. He simply wasn't worth the effort.

He never was interested in following Voldemort, he never saw the point. Besides, after the Chamber was opened in his second year he'd found reference to a Tom Marvolo Riddle. It wasn't really that hard to put the pieces together, and why would he want to be tied to a hypocritical madman? There was another factor too, that led him to be standing here on this first floor corridor, wand trained on the masked and black robed figure. His name was Kari. Kari Noir. 

_"Bonjour," the boy standing in front of me extends one hand as the other is used to tuck a strand of his dark brown hair behind his ear. _

_"Hello," I answer, taking the offered hand and hoping that the boy speaks English._

_"Oh," he smiles, blue eyes shining, "you're English are you?"_

_"Yeah," I answer, not sure what to expect._

_"Here, I'll show you around the gardens. I've been here before, and most of the adults are deathly boring, you'll just end up standing around by yourself otherwise," the boy's offer takes me by surprise, so much so that I accept before I realise I've done so. As we wander pass the roses, the brunette still holding my hand, I decide that maybe this isn't so bad after all and hope that my mother sees fit to ignore me for the rest of the evening._

That had been eleven years ago, I'd only been seven at the time, and it had been another five years before I'd see him again, although I recognized him in an instant.

_It's funny how you can look at someone and just __**know**__ you know them, even if you don't know how or why and it's been years since you saw them last. That's how I feel about this boy though, Kari, his name is. This blue eyed, brown haired, bilingual Canadian wizard who shouldn't be standing here in this muggle park, just like how I myself shouldn't be standing here watching him watch the birds circling over head._

_"I know you, don't I," he says, without turning his head and I nodded even though he probably can't see. I don't know what to say, if there is anything I can. I'm only about to start my second year, I'm too young for the myriad men coming and leaving my mother's life, for the politics of Hogwarts and Slytherin House, far too young for how he makes me feel. Not that I think I really know what that feeling is._

_"Let's walk," he says, and then he's holding my hand and it's like we never left that rose garden. _

_He leads me over to the trees at the edge of the park, and after a moment he starts talking. He tells me about how his family doesn't visit the purebloods in Europe anymore because his father says that something bad is about to happen here and he's not about to get dragged into it. He talks about how it doesn't matter to the other families because they've forgotten how powerful the Noirs are, and what they really stand for. He explains how he hasn't forgotten about me, and how he wishes he was going to Hogwarts, because then he's be with me in Slytherin House._

_In return, I tell him about my mother's many husbands, and the in-school politics. I tell him about the boy-who-lived, and Draco's animosity. I tell him about how I've managed to blend into the background, how I haven't forgotten him, and how I wish he went to Hogwarts so we could be in Slytherin House together._

_When we part we each have one thing from the other. I have his address so I can owl him, and he has my promise that I'll avoid whatever bad thing is about to happen here in Europe._

When the Chamber opened that year, it was Kari I talked to about it, and he was the one who helped me put together the pieces regarding Tom Riddle and Voldemort. In third year he sent me information regarding a charm I could place on my curtains to protect myself at night after the break in into Gryffindor Tower. Forth year is when everything changed.

_'Dear Blaise,_

_This Yule Ball sounds interesting enough, I wish I could come. I know you mentioned that you didn't have a date, but believe me when I say that isn't the end of the world. I know this maybe isn't the best way to say it, but..._

_If I could, I'd ask you to the Ball, your school traditions be damned. Just because your classmates can't seem to be able to see what a wonderful and beautiful person you are doesn't mean that no one has._

_Wishing I could ask you for a dance,_

_Kari'_

_'Dear Kari,_

_Me too._

_Yours always,_

_Blaise_

_p.s. I wore the rose.'_

In essence, from the Yule Ball on, we were a couple. Sneaking away while on holiday from school, letters sent across the ocean and, after the events at the end of the Triwizard Cup, on charmed parchments that allowed instant communication, those were the ways that our relationship existed. When, shortly before I was to return to Hogwarts for my fifth year, Kari pulled me in for a kiss and whispered that he loved him I knew what side of the war I'd have to stand on in the end.

_"Please, promise me you'll be careful," Kari whispered in my ear, arms locked around me as if he was afraid I'd vanish if he let go. This wasn't the first time these words had been said, but the stakes had never been so high before. My mother had been speaking about some changes in the teaching staff, and then there was the registry of muggle-born witches and wizards. I knew the resistance still existed, but..._

_"I promise," I whisper back, and I will. I always do. There's just the fact that I also know where I'll be standing when the last lines are drawn, and I'm afraid that there may come a time when I'll have to break that promise. There's silence after I speak, and then Kari's pulling back, an undecipherable look on his face._

_"Marry me, mon corbeau ?" he asks, and I swear my heart stops beating for a moment. In that moment I want to say yes, oh goddess, I'd do anything to say yes, but I know I can't._

_"I'm sorry," I say softly, "not now, I can't. Ask me when the war is over." He knows why I'm doing it, why in that moment I might break both our hearts._

_"Later, then," he nods, and it's a promise as he kisses me and doesn't want to let go. I don't want to let him go either._

That all leads up to now, where my wand is trained on a masked and black cloaked figure that's seconds away from cursing the youngest Weasley. He never sees me, never realises that it's a Slytherin that's his undoing.

"Pectus pectoris subsist," I cast, the spell courtesy of Kari's unavoidable tutoring. It isn't an Unforgivable, but it'll do the trick. The Deatheater drops to the ground and I lock eyes with a frightened but determined redhead. 

"Go find Potter," I tell her, "he'll need you." She nods, confused but relieved, and we go our separate ways.

The rest of the battle passes in a blur, although my heart nearly stops functioning at one point where I'm convinced I've just glimpsed Kari, wearing battle clothes and wielding a sword as well as a wand, dispatch a Deatheater threatening Luna Lovegood. Impossible, I tell myself, and I'm caught up in the battle once more. I don't fully regain control of my senses until after Voldemort lies dead, and I'm wondering away from the grief-stricken and the unimaginably relieved.

The traces of battle surround me, even as I stand at the lake's edge, and I can't quite seem to be able to believe that it's over. A shadow falls over me and I stiffen instinctually before arms are wrapped tightly around my waist.

"I thought I was going to lose you," his voice is teetering on the edge of tears and thankfulness.

"Kari," I breathe, shock and relief evident in my voice, and his arms tighten even more, "how?"

"I wasn't going to stand by and have you fight alone," he answers, fingering the plain silver serpent pendent that rests at the base of my throat, "If things got really bad I set it up so I'd know." I relax back into his embrace as we stand in silence, basking in the feeling of **home**, of knowing that everything I need is right here. 

"Marry me, mon coeur?" he whispers in my ear, silver, sapphire, and emerald ring bearing our entwined family crests in hand. This time I answer with my heart.

"Yes," I whisper in return, angling my face up to meet his lips, "Yes, I'll marry you." 

Our lips find each others' as he slides the ring onto my finger and we're both dissolving into kisses and tears as we cling to each other and know we have a chance at a future. Together. 

* * *

**For those of you who've read my Albus/Scorpius/OC fic, yes I realise I've given my OCs the same name. This has been remedied. (My female OC will have a different name in the story I'm working on. You'll see why I've done this once that story gets off the ground.)**

**Constructive criticism welcomed, as are your opinion on whether or not you'd like to read more about Blaise and Kari's relationship. **

_Bonjour- _hello

_mon corbeau- _my raven

pectus pectoris subsist- heart stop (Latin, online translation. It just sounded like it would make a cool curse.)


End file.
